Some golfers prefer to walk while playing golf. These golfers usually use pull carts to carry their golf bags. Such golf carts are disclosed in Evans et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,360 entitled "COLLAPSIBLE GOLF BAG CART," Reineccius et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,003 entitled "GOLF EQUIPMENT," Wang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,117 entitled "FOLDING GOLF CART," and Groff U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,617 entitled "GOLF CARTS."
All of the above-cited patents disclose a golf cart for a golf bag having two wheels, a golf bag support and a handle. Typically, a lower end of the golf bag support and the two wheels form a tripod to maintain the golf cart substantially upright when not in use. The handle is typically located at an upper end of the golf bag support. When a golf bag is placed on the cart, it lies generally adjacent and parallel to the cart, and distal to the handle.
When the cart is used, the handle is pulled down in such a way to pivot the golf cart and bag over the wheels. In this manner, the cart is pulled with the golfer ahead of the cart.
Although these golf carts are useful in transporting golf bags, several disadvantages exist. The disclosed golf carts are designed to be pulled. The pulling of the cart, exaggerated by the upright position, causes straining of the lower back and shoulder of the user. To avoid this strain, many users will try to push these carts.
However, pushing the above-disclosed carts presents other disadvantages. First, pushing these carts causes the bag carrier to dig into the ground when the user attempts to climb an incline. To overcome this, the user must lower the golf bag closer to the ground by lowering the handle to further pivot the golf cart and bag over the wheels. This, however, causes the user more physical strain by having to bend over, or extend her arm and shoulder unnaturally lower. Second, when pushed on relatively level terrain, the carts have a tendency to pivot forward.
Some of the above-cited patents have a shaft as part of the golf bag support that runs from the wheels to the handle. When a bag is placed onto one of these disclosed carts, the shaft interferes with the bag handle to cause the bag to rotate. This rotation causes the clubs to stack up in the bag, which hinders insertion and withdrawal of the clubs from the bag.
All of the disclosed patented carts, and other non-disclosed carts have the handles typically placed above and generally next to the mouth of the golf bag. This placement impedes club insertion into and withdrawal from the mouth of the bag.
Thus, there continues to be a need to provide a golf cart that lessens the muscular strain of its user and can traverse different types of terrain while being structurally rigid, yet of light weight.